The Story of Snakeheads aka FrankenFish

From Denny: This is such a good article from Country Roads Magazine I just had to share it with you. It's about those bizarre snakehead fish we keep hearing about in the news. There was a lot of description, information and first-hand experience with this weirdo fish that might end up required reading for everyone across America as this greedy destructive fish invades our waterways. The folks over at Country Roads Magazine out of St. Francisville, Louisiana, write in an entertaining manner that is an easy read along with the information.

Here's an excerpt:

The Story of Snakeheads

by Lucile Bayon Hume @ Country Roads Magazine

"This time, Satan swims instead of slithers.

"Snakehead fish may be coming to a lake, pond, puddle, river, stream or creek near you. Go ahead, scream. I began checking into these invaders after a perfect weekend of fly fishing on the Little Red River in Arkansas with Philip, my boy turned pro fishing guide who practices catch and release and has the utmost respect and affection for the trout whose habits he’s studied. Heading home, we heard via radio that snakeheads, the topic of fishy horror stories, were found in a creek in Arkansas. OMG, were our beautiful fish the color of the rainbow in jeopardy along with other native fish? I should’ve saved this topic for Halloween. It’s a scary one. Incidentally, a snakehead costume would be way more original and spooky than has-been standards like witches, devils, goblins and psychotic Freddy Kruger.

"Snakeheads, nicknamed “Frankenfish” by media, are ecological terrorists and ugly monsters with cavernously big mouths packed with oversized razor sharp teeth that can cut prey in half, a slimy mucus coating (yech!) on their blotched brown or greenish cylindrical bodies, enlarged scales on their heads and eyes set unusually forward in the same position as old snake eyes. No, this isn’t just another pretty little fish face.

"And snakehead capabilities that send up red flags are its ability to breathe using air sacs so it can exist as a fish out of water, and, get this—some species can “walk” by flip flopping and wriggling across muddy terrain to take a stroll of sorts from location to location, which makes the slippery varmints hard to confine.

"There’s not much redeeming about them. Mr. S.H. is a nasty character who hits hard and eats prey in one gulp. There’s a horrifying YouTube video of a poor dumb bass dumped in a tank with a snakehead who strikes viciously over and over until the bass goes belly up then into the snakehead’s belly. Our villain’s hungry and can swallow prey (fish, frogs, water birds, small mammals, possibly pets) as large as he is without batting a fish eye.

"One observer calls him “a belly with fins.” And temperament is at best peevish, particularly when parents guard nests of their young. One story tells of a snared snakehead lunging and leaving tooth marks in steel-toed boots, though there’s skepticism among some who say the Northern snakehead, our most prevalent species, doesn’t attack humans as the Giant snakehead does. Thanks, I’ll still keep my distance.

"But the real Frankenfish nightmare is his potential to upset the ecological applecart if he moves in with slimy luggage and embodies the old saying about the smell of guests who overstay. In waters inhabited by our native fishes, his appetite is unleashed on them, plus he takes over the real estate, displacing the locals, particularly if there’s a pair of interlopers reproducing in staggering numbers. He also carries parasites and diseases lethal to our fish.

"Having no natural predators puts him at the top of the food chain and lands our American fish in a position lower on the eco-totem pole, endangered in their own natural habitats. The ultimate illegal alien is indeed both an alien creature and illegal to import or transport live across state lines because of the threat authorities believe he poses to our native fish, to their aquatic systems, to the balance of nature and to the fishing industry, including recreational fishing.

"As it stands now, the fish can be imported frozen, i.e. dead. The intruder is native to Asia and Africa and has been purposefully introduced to various areas including the Philippines and Hawaii as a food source. U.S. fish markets profitably sell them, now only frozen, i.e. dead. Snakeheads are reputed to be a delicacy when smoked, dried, grilled, fried, or cooked with noodles or in watercress soup. Some Chinese believe it helps heal wounds and keeps human skin supple, soft, young. Pass the snakehead, please."

For the rest of this funny yet informative article, just click on the title link!

Here's a National Geographic video on the Snakehead:





Snakeheads United States America catch and release outdoors recreation fishing fly fishing food source

Video: Independence Day Trivia

From Denny: This is well worth the watching! While I knew most of the dry facts - what I didn't know were some of the ancedotal stories that went along with those historical facts that spoke a lot to the personalities and conflicts of that time.


Watch CBS Videos Online

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Video: The Crown of Liberty

Then First Lady Nancy Reagan reopens Statue of Liberty on 100th birthday Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: This is a really good video on the updates to and the history of visiting the Statue of Liberty AND you get an inside view from the top looking out over the harbor - best video I've seen on the recent renovation project. It's nice to see we have an administration who promotes freedom instead of fear by reopening the Statue of Liberty and other federal buildings like the White House to the viewing from the public!


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Fourth of July Quotes: Serious and Funny

Photo by Morgan Frederick @ flickr

From Denny: I just love the fireworks on this day. I also like to remember all the soldiers over the centuries who lost their lives preserving our freedom, whether they voted Democrat, Republican or not at all.

Courage is always to be respected and admired. We may not agree on whether there should be a war at all, how to conduct a war once started or how to end it. What we can agree on is to respect those who were sent to fight as our first line of defense. They paid a hefty price for the rest of their lives for those wars were always with them.

Here are some very serious awesome quotes and a few light-hearted ones as well to give you pause and a grin on this solemn national holiday.

Serious Quotes

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.” – President John F. Kennedy

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." - Thomas Paine

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself." - Thomas Paine

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." - Elmer Davis

"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have." - Harry Emerson Fosdick

"Let freedom never perish in your hands." - Joseph Addison

Image by photobunny via Flickr

"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved." - President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!" - Daniel Webster

"We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls." - Robert J. McCracken

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." - Abraham Lincoln

"If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace." - Hamilton Fish

"I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery." - Anonymous

"Without freedom, no one really has a name." - Milton Acorda

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." - Benjamin Franklin

Funny Quotes

The United States is the only country with a known birthday. - James G. Blaine

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” - Erma Bombeck

"There, I guess King George will be able to read that." -
John Hancock, after signing the Declaration of Independence with a huge signature well flourished to stand out from the crowd!

Stay safe this holiday; Happy Fourth of July! Thanks for visiting!

Recipe: Seafood Gumbo from a Louisiana Chef

Image by Southern Foodways Alliance via Flickr

Seafood Gumbo

From: Chef Forest Dillemuth


Ingredients:

1 lb Louisiana crawfish tails

1 rabbit (store-bought will work)

1 duck breast (trim any fat and again, store-bought will work)

1 lb Andouille sausage

1/2 lb boneless buffalo stew meat

1 lb shrimp

3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 tsp ground thyme

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp oregano

1 chopped purple onion

2 bell peppers (1 red and 1 yellow)

2 gallons water

2 Tbsp of roux mix

1 tsp filé powder

2 cups white rice

1 Tbsp olive oil


Directions:

Bring two gallons of water to boil. Add 1 clove of chopped garlic, parsley, thyme, oregano and salt to water. Once boiling place whole rabbit and boil slowly (until meat is soft and tender). Once rabbit is boiled pull from pot, let cool, remove all meat from bone and set aside. Also pull out 4 cups of water from the stock and set aside.

In new pot add olive oil and heat. Once heated add remaining garlic, onion and bell pepper and sauté until vegetables are tender. Now add sausage, duck, buffalo, shrimp and crawfish and sauté until cooked. Then add 2 tablespoons of roux mix and 1 teaspoon of filé into pot and sauté at high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add remaining stock from rabbit and cook on medium heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

To cook the rice take the 4 cups of stock you set aside and place into small pot. Bring to boil and add 2 cups of rice. Stir and then reduce to low heat. Cover and let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.